ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the many different types of trauma that occur within the maternal period such as infertility, tokophobia (extreme fear of pregnancy/childbirth), hyperemesis gravidarum (extreme sickness in pregnancy), miscarriage, termination due to fetal abnormality, stillbirth/neonatal death, rape and sexual abuse and birth trauma. The chapter highlights how the infant can sometimes be viewed as the cause of trauma, which can complicate the mother's feelings towards the infant and bring a sense of shame. The chapter touches on treatment for maternal trauma and then ends with a clinical vignette about a client who experienced rape in her early teens and who was struggling with her pregnancy.
